The most dangerous snake - what is it?

The most dangerous snake and the most poisonous are not the same. In fact, a snake can kill not only with poison. There are also boas. They also sometimes kill people, especially pythons. True, all researchers of snakes claim that both pythons and anacondas can attack a person only in the order of self-defense or confusing him with an animal. With the appearance of a large group of people, the anaconda always prefers to hide or plaintively hiss, making weak movements that imitate an attack. But never attacks! True, this is not much of what it says. The one who meets this snake in the jungle alone will not tell anyone.

Python kills people much more often, but also only in exceptional cases. Obviously, the high frequency of python attacks on humans is due to the prevalence of this snake in nature. The mass media are bringing to us truly dramatic events. For example, one American student, who was attacked by a python, managed to stay alive and even killed the "aggressor" with a knife. But in Venezuela the victory was on the side of the reptile: there the python strangled the zoo's servant.

And pythons, and anacondas - snakes are large enough, and notice them in the rainforest can be quite easy. Considering that they themselves prefer to not communicate with people in general, reptiles do not represent a special danger for people. Obviously, the owner of the title "the most dangerous snake" should be looked for among the poisonous reptiles. Here the choice is more than great.

The generally accepted opinion about the unmotivated attack of poisonous snakes on a person is not true. Even the most dangerous snake with a strong poison attacks, only defending itself or "by misunderstanding." The second case is when a person, because of the protective coloration, did not see the snake among the vegetation and stepped on it.

According to most researchers, an unequivocal answer to the question, what is the most dangerous snake among poisonous reptiles, does not exist. Of course, you can determine the degree of toxicity of the poison (a special test for LD-50 has been developed for this purpose), but the fact is that all snakes inject different amounts of it at the bite. Thus, even a less potent toxin can have a more negative effect if its dose is large enough. In addition, snakes have different habits: one after the first bite leave the victim, giving her a chance to escape, others bite again (a kind of "control bite"). And at different times of the year, the same snake can produce poison of varying degrees of toxicity and allocate it when bitten in different amounts. That is, even if you are attacked by a royal cobra, there is a chance of salvation.

According to the combination of different characteristics, specialists allocate a rather small circle of snakes, meeting with which is very dangerous for humans. This is the royal cobra, harlequin aspid, rattlesnake, African boomslang, malay krajt, taipan (one "portion" of poison under normal conditions kills one hundred people), tiger snake (up to four hundred people). The last two snakes are found in the desert areas of Australia.

Apart from their land companions, sea serpents stand apart. They basically hunt for marine animals, which are less susceptible to poison because of the characteristics of the metabolism. Therefore, sea snakes are on the average much more toxic than land. They can dive to a depth of 100 meters and stay under water for up to five hours.

Snakes earlier often became totemic animals. And today the fashion for drawing tattoos with the image of a snake is widespread. Pictures of these deadly reptiles are also adorned with exhibitions of animal photographers, and screensavers of animal programs. And they symbolize strength and fearlessness.